May 19, 2017

Since the election of Donald Trump as president, Democrats have been trying to set the narrative that the Trump team colluded with the Russians to influence the election. The Democrats demanded a Special Counsel to look into these allegations to keep the narrative running and to place a dark cloud over Trump and the Republicans in their effort to persuade public opinion in order to win back Congress, the U.S. Senate, and ultimately the White House.

So far there has been no evidence of any ties between the Trump team and the Russians. James Clapper, Obama’s Director of National Intelligence (DNI) has stated on May 12, 2017 that the NSA, FBI, CIA, and his office “had no evidence of such collusion.” Democratic Senator Diane Feinstein (CA), who sits on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, stated that she hasn’t seen any evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians.

While the Special Council seems like a “Witch Hunt” by Democrats delegitimize the Trump presidency, this is actually good for Trump. It puts the issue to rest and I suspect the result of the investigation will show there was no collusion, which is bad news for Democrats.

Trump and the Republicans should be calling for several other Special Counsels to investigate other criminal activity within the government including the illegal electronic surveillance by those in the Obama administration on the Trump team and those leaking such intelligence to the media. Several felonies were committed when individuals within the National Security Council, whom over sixty percent were appointed by Obama, illegally unmasked individuals within the Trump team violating their legal protection under privacy as American citizens and anonymously leaked those classified reports collected through a FISA warrant to the media. The media has used the private conversations between Russian Ambassadors as examples of collusion even though such conversations with ambassadors of various countries are normal. Feinstein admitted, “There are all kind of rumors around. There are newspaper stories, but that is not necessarily evidence.”

We should welcome Special Counsel to investigate collusion between Hillary Clinton and the Russians for selling 20% of American uranium to the Russians for the millions donated to the Clinton Foundation as well as the hundreds of thousands Bill Clinton received from the Russians in speaking fees.

We should have a Special Counsel for the $500,000 donated by the Clintons to Jill McCabe, who was running for the State Senate and is the wife of FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, who was the official in charge of investigating the emails of Hillary’s private server. Can we say unethical and conflict of interest?

We should have a Special Counsel for Hillary’s private server with the 33,000 email and classified material leaked along with the private meeting of Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Bill Clinton on the tarmac of an Arizona airport. More conflict of interest.

We should have a Special Counsel for the murder of Seth Rich, who was the DNC leaker to Wikileaks.

We should have a Special Counsel for lies and cover-up of the murders in Benghazi. We should have a Special Counsel for the IRS scandal of targeting conservative organizations with the cover-up of destroying the email servers. We should have a Special Counsel for President Obama’s surveillance of Republican presidential candidates including Rand Paul and Marco Rubio. We should have a Special Counsel for the deaths of Veterans at the VA hospital during the Obama administration. We should have a Special Counsel for the deception of the Iran deal and the billions given to them from Obama. We should have a Special Counsel for Fast and Furious when the Obama administration sold weapons to the Mexican drug cartels that were used to kill two border patrol agents.

Special Counsels are good and there should be a lot of government people held responsible, including jail. While the Special Counsel against Trump smells of a “Witch Hunt” based on trumped up information, this will put the issue to rest; but at the same time, other Special Counsels against the real criminals in Washington is another way to “Drain the Swamp.”

May 8, 2017

California drivers pay more for gasoline than any other state. Yet, they will be paying even more as Governor Jerry Brown and the Democrats approved another 12 cents per gallon tax on the people including an increase in DMV fees as well as a $100 annual fee on zero-emission vehicles as part of their latest money grab from the people of California.

State Democrats and Brown claim the $52 billion in taxes will fix the roads right? Not so fast. We have been down that road before with an increase in gas tax for the roads and where did that lead us? It is another game of switch-a-roo and moving the money around as they choose. They moved money from one area of the state budget and leave another area short to justify their reasons for a tax increase. Surely Brown and the Democrats would not tell the people the money was needed to fund Brown’s choo choo or that the state is spending billions to supply multiple agencies in supporting and funding programs for illegal aliens. Diverting road tax funds from the state budget creates a need where they can justify creating the largest transportation tax in the state’s history. It is all built on a lie to the people.

Only 60 percent will actually go to road projects. The first billion will fund high speed rail, assumed by some to ultimately cost $200 billion, and most of the people will never use it. Millions more will be spent on park restroom maintenance, corridors to improve animal travel, as well as millions to encourage people to visit state parks. Another billion will be used on bike lanes, which means less lanes for traffic, and $435 million plus on an unneeded light rail system.

The people of California will pay for the lies by our misleading state representatives though a higher gas tax and fees that doesn’t carry an expiration date. This tax increase is forever. These taxes and fees will be added to our already enormous transportation cost when California drivers already pay for a “designer” gasoline that no other state uses, adding another 12 cents per gallon. These taxes add up when you add a 39 cent California excise tax with a 10 cent cap and trade fee tax collapsed into the gas price with the .18 cents federal excise taxes and not to mention the 30 to 43 cents per gallon cost each person pays in California sales tax. This has become taxation upon taxation. The additional hidden cost will be passed down to the consumer a hidden tax as additional fees to pay for the cost of shipping at the store.

In the end, it will be the tax-paying people of California that will be hit the hardest while the Democrats and Governor Brown have given “pot holes” a whole new meaning as they continue to use and mislead the people with smoke and mirrors. Maybe they should be more concern with the people of California than making it a sanctuary state. California has a taxation problem only because the Democrats have a mismanagement problem.

Frank Aquila is president of the South San Joaquin Republicans and author of the book, “Sarah Palin Out of Nowhere.” He can be emailed at mantecarepublicans@yahoo.com

May 3, 2017

President Donald Trump is leading America back to greatness. He is not a typical politician and he is not politically correct. He just believes in getting things done and running America like a business, putting successful people in the right position in his unashamed commitment of American greatness. Trump has shown in his first 100 days that he would fulfill his promises to the electorate to make America great again and he has already accomplished an impressive list of achievements.
Trump began bringing jobs back to America before he was sworn in as president, negotiating with both Ford and Carrier to stay in America. Other companies, such as Samsung, Exxon, Fiat, and Hasbro have already begun the process of returning their businesses to America to create more American jobs. Trump signed an executive order revitalizing the coal industry and approved the Dakota Access Pipeline and the Keystone Pipeline, which will create more jobs and bring energy independence to America.
While Trump is putting American industry and the private sector to work, he is eliminating government regulations and freezing non-essential hiring throughout the federal government, including a five year ban on lobbyist. The Wall Street Journal editorial stated, “So far the Trump administration is a welcome improvement, rolling back more regulations than any president in history.” As a result, Trump has already cut the U.S. debt burden by $68 billion while the Philly Fed Index, a survey of how well manufacturers are doing, has hit its highest level since 1984. The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index is at its highest level since 2004. Economic and consumer confidence are surging.
Trump has put America’s security as a top priority. Illegal immigration is down 67 percent. Border Patrol and ICE are deporting criminals and “sanctuary cities” that harbor criminal illegal aliens face losing federal funding.
Trump reacted to Syria’s murder of woman and children. He sanctioned Iran over their missile program. He dropped a 21,600 pound bomb on the ISIS headquarters and training facility with many underground tunnels. Trump is building up a military while dealing with the nuclear threat of an unhinged leader in North Korea, which was enabled by former President Bill Clinton when he removed sanctions from North Korea on an empty promise not to seek nuclear weapons.
Trump selected Neil Gorsuch to the United States Supreme Court, who will defend freedom and protect America from judicial activism.
Trump signed an executive order to protect police officers, created a task force to reduce crime, and signed an executive order to target drug cartels.
Trump is working at a neck-breaking pace in just 100 days. He will reduce taxes, eliminate the burden of Obamacare, renegotiate NAFTA even while the Democrats continue to try to stop him with rogue judges or obstruction. Trump is leading with an agenda to Make America Great Again.

Frank Aquila is president of the South San Joaquin Republicans and author of the book, “Sarah Palin Out of Nowhere.” He can be emailed at mantecarepublicans@yahoo.com